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Anyo Dalawa Empty Hand Opening Sequence

The obvious characteristic of the opening sequence of this form is the empty handed scissors action, called “gunting” in Filipino Martial Arts. I tell you, I love the gunting technique. It has its origin in the bladed applications of Filipino Martial Arts. Pick up a training blade and imitate the movement that I demonstrated in this video and you can see how a cut on the inside of the arm can do considerable damage.

But, as pointed out in the video, you must do this technique correctly in order for this to succeed. One cannot simply stand in front of an adversary and hope to pull this off. As Marc MacYoung loves to say “diddle, diddle, straight up the middle.” One must angle off the line of attack in order to execute this technique properly.

One training caveat: I use open hands when training this on a partner. In reality, I would employ a fist to the nerve just above the elbow (in Chinese acupuncture terms, Heart 2). This causes the elbow to bend and is a great set up for follow up techniques, ranging from additional hits to joint locks to takedowns.

The gunting is a very versatile technique with empty hand, bladed and stick applications. It can be used as a primary move or as a counter move.

Can you spot the gunting in any of the Modern Arnis stick anyos? This should be easy.